BIZ BUZZ: Toyota Mississippi flips switch on solar project

It’s 358 feet long, made up of 198 panels and generates enough electricity to power seven homes.

It’s the solar panel project at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi plant in Blue Springs, and it’s the fourth-largest solar project in the state.

Earlier this morning, officials with Toyota, Tennessee Valley Authority, New Albany Light Gas and Water and others officially turned “on” the solar panels.

The panels track the sun’s path from sunrise to sunset, then lays flat at night. The panels were installed by Mississippi Solar in Carthage.

Toyota Mississippi is Toyota’s Model Sustainability Plant in North America, which means it is the most energy efficient Toyota plant on the continent. Officials said the solar project here could be expanded, as well as rolled out to other Toyota facilities.

Also today, the plant officially received a plaque recognizing Toyota’s designation as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award. Previous coverage here.

Toyota has been named an Energy Star Partner of the Year nine consecutive years, the most of any automaker that assembles vehicles in the U.S.